


Puppy Dog Eyes

by HollowIsTheWorld



Series: There Was A Time When I Was Alone [1]
Category: Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare, Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-19
Updated: 2016-04-19
Packaged: 2018-06-03 04:04:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6595918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HollowIsTheWorld/pseuds/HollowIsTheWorld
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Neither of them can say no to their sons. This is probably a problem.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Puppy Dog Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> Some notes about canon compliance: Anything Mortal Instruments related that I do is a mash-up of book-canon, show-canon, and headcanons. For instance, this fic contains the show-canon of Alec being taller than Magnus, the book-canon of the existence of Chairman Meow, and my personal headcanon of Alec being Papa and Magnus being Dad (yes, I know CC said it’s the other way around but i literally do not even kind of sort of care). Basically, I've chosen to take the existence of the show as permission to play as fast and loose with canon as I want to.

Alec was never one for random expressions of affection. 

Magnus has never minded this. It’s just how Alexander is. He is affectionate in person, and when the situation calls for it; he just isn’t the sort to take time out of his day to send Magnus meaningless texts just to prove he cares. That’s fine by Magnus. He  _knows_ Alec cares. 

This did mean, however, that when his phone went off while he was finishing up with a client, and he pulled it out to see that Alec had sent him ‘I love you’ with no context, he knew something was wrong.

He frowned as he left the building he’d spent most of the day in, taking in a grateful breath of fresh air. Or, well, as fresh as the air ever got in Manhattan these days. He was going to have to take a cab back home - he didn’t have the energy for a portal, and he did  _ not _ care for the subway. 

_ ‘I love you.’  _

Magnus deliberated for a few minutes while he waited for a cab. He could just text Alec back and ask what was wrong. Or call him, since Alec was virtually incapable of lying convincingly if he had to do it out loud. Or he could just wait until he got home to see what had happened. 

As he got into a cab and gave the driver the address, he decided on texting. If that was partly because he felt like he might be too tired to talk, Alec didn't need to know that. 

_ ‘What did you do?’ _

Several minutes ticked past before Alec responded again.

_ ‘Technically, this is at least fifty percent your fault.’ _

Magnus, who didn’t even know what ‘this’ was, raised an eyebrow.  _ ‘How do you figure that, darling?’ _

_ ‘He’s your son as much as mine.’ _

Magnus rolled his eyes fondly. So either Rafael or Max had turned the puppy dog eyes on Alec and he’d melted and given in on something he didn’t think Magnus would approve of. That wasn’t unusual. And it wasn’t as though Alec was the only one to have done it. Magnus struggled to tell either of them no as well. 

His phone went off with another text from Alec.  _ ‘Well,  THEY'RE  your sons, I suppose. It was Max to start with, but Rafe is supporting him, and I cannot say no to them both at the same time.’ _

_ ‘But really, I do love you. And I’m sorry.’ _

Magnus chuckled as the next text came in. Alec had probably been talked into letting them have ice cream for dinner or something. 

_ ‘What did they talk you into anyway?’  _ he asked. 

_ ‘When are you going to be home?’ _ Alec responded, and Magnus frowned at the avoidance of his question.  _ ‘Because it might be easier to just show you.’ _

_ ‘Darling, you’re starting to worry me.’ _

Alec didn’t respond, and Magnus was suddenly very glad he was only another ten minutes from home, because he was starting to get concerned. And curious. Alec was usually the first to go telling stories about whatever ridiculous thing their children had done, and him being unwilling to tell even Magnus was both intriguing and worrying. 

He didn’t know what he was expecting to find when he got home, but he pushed the door open with a little more caution than usual.

The first thing he saw was Alec, who had heard the door open and was making direct eye contact with him, his whole face a mantra of ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I am  _ so sorry _ ,’ which wasn’t making Magnus feel any better. 

The second thing he saw was Chairman Meow, as the little cat came running up to him, meowing plaintively. Whatever Magnus’ husband and children had done, the Chairman did not approve. 

The third thing he saw was his sons. Sitting in the middle of the living room. 

With a puppy. 

Magnus’ jaw dropped and he looked back at Alec, who just made a helpless gesture at him.

Magnus, who had no idea how he was supposed to respond to this and was too tired to figure it out, bent down and picked up Chairman Meow. “...How did this happen?” he asked at last. 

Alec came to stand next to him, still watching Max and Rafe. They were taking turns throwing a tennis ball that the puppy was too small to pick up properly. Thankfully, with two young children in the house, they had long since moved anything fragile out of the living room.

“We went for a walk,” Alec explained. “Jace called to ask me about a translation for something he's working on, and in the ten seconds where I looked away to pull out my phone, Max found  _ that _ in a box with the words ‘Free Puppies’ on the side. He was the only one in it. Which is probably a good thing, otherwise we'd have even _more_ puppies right now.”

“You couldn't just tell him 'no'? Or 'only until we find a better home for it'?”

Alec pointed to where their sons were playing. “Do  _ you _ want to tell them?”

Magnus looked over at the boys and sighed. They were clearly both enamored with the dog. Telling them they couldn't keep it would break their hearts. 

And Magnus was no good at disappointing his children. 

He sighed and tilted his head back so he could look Alec in the eyes. “We’re past arguing about it, aren't we? We already have a dog.”

Alec nodded. “Sorry,” he said again. He didn't sound very sorry. 

The Chairman let out a pathetic meow and Magnus absentmindedly rubbed behind his ears. “We’ll manage, I suppose,” he said, smiling up at his husband. “We've already adopted two kids as spur of the moment decisions. How hard can a dog be?”

Alec smiled. “Fair enough.”

Chairman Meow meowed pitifully again. 

“The Chairman disapproves,” Magnus said, holding him up for emphasis. 

Alec smiled and reached over to scratch the cat’s head. “I promise we won't forget about you, Chairman.”

The cat shook himself, jumped out of Magnus’ arms, and stalked off towards the bedroom, unimpressed. 

“ _ Papa!”  _ Max suddenly shrieked. Alec jumped and turned back towards the kids. The puppy appeared to have been worn out and was now lying down between the boys, panting. 

Max pointed an accusatory finger at his brother with all the rage a five year old could muster. “Papa, he says Shiva’s gonna sleep in _ his _ room!”

Magnus raised an eyebrow and looked at Alec. “Shiva?”

Alec nodded, but Rafe was the first to speak. “I named him!”

“One of the demigods from that mythology book you gave him for his birthday,” Alec explained. 

“Ah.”

Max seemed to be feeling ignored. “Papa, I want Shiva to sleep in  _ my _ room!” He twisted to look at Magnus. “Daddy, he can sleep in my room, right?”

Magnus found himself caught between two opposing puppy-dog looks and froze. 

Alec came to his rescue and Magnus felt a great surge of affection towards his husband. “I don't think he can sleep in  _ anyone's  _ room right now,” Alec said diplomatically. “He isn't house-trained.”

“I'll train him,” Rafe said simply. He had turned his attention back to Shiva and was rubbing his ears. 

“Not in the next hour, you won’t, Rafe,” Alec pointed out. “We need to get him… A kennel, I guess?” He looked imploringly at Magnus.

Magnus didn’t  _ really _ have the energy to be snapping dog kennels into his home, but he didn’t really have the energy to actually go to a store either. He snapped his fingers and a dog kennel appeared in the living room, along with a bag of puppy food. For once, Alec didn’t even glare at him, or check that Magnus had paid for it.

Which was good, because he hadn't.

“I know nothing about dogs,” Magnus said. “I’ve always been more of a cat person. But that should get us through the night.”

Alec nodded in agreement. “We’ll find a vet to take him to tomorrow. See if we can figure out what we’re doing.”

Max was lying on the ground now, nose to nose with Shiva, who appeared to be asleep. 

“We have to stop adopting strays at whim,” Magnus said. “Two kids and a dog is my limit, darling.” 

Alec grinned. “Well,  _ you _ can tell them that the next time they find something they think needs a home.”

Magnus sighed melodramatically, but found himself smiling anyway. “We’re going to end up with a zoo, Alexander.”

“Probably.”

“If one of them brings home a sewer rat, I’m drawing the line.”

“Noted.”

Magnus dragged one hand down his face. “How long until their bedtime? I’m exhausted.”

Alec leaned over and kissed him. “I can tuck them in if you want to go to bed. You look ready to fall over.”

“Oh, I am. But as long as no one asks me to have a full conversation I can stay out here a little longer.” 

“I think you’ll be fine. They’re preoccupied.”

Magnus moved over to sit by the boys and observe the dog more closely. 

It was little right now, but if the size of its ears and paws were anything to go by, that wasn’t going to last long. At the moment, Max could probably pick Shiva up with little to no effort. If Shiva grew into his paws before Max went into his next growth spurt, it was going to be the other way around. 

“What kind of dog do you think he is?” Magnus asked, partially to himself and partially to Alec.

Rafe answered. “He’s a mutt.” He said it with the utmost confidence, and with a note of pride at being able to share this information with his parents and brother. 

It hadn’t been the kind of answer Magnus was looking for, but he couldn’t deny it. One of Shiva’s ears was flopped down, while the other stuck straight up, like a German Shepards. He was multi-colored; black, grey, white, and brown all over him. A few places were merle, while others were solid patches of color, and when Magnus ran his hand down the dog’s back he found that some of the fur was soft and fluffy, while others parts were coarser. 

Magnus felt the couch shift behind him and turned his head to see that Alec had sat down and was watching them fondly. Magnus smiled back at him. 

An hour later, they took Shiva outside and then finally dragged the boys off to bed. It took twice as long as usual; Max seemed very concerned that Shiva might think he was unloved if he wasn’t hugged goodnight at least six times. Magnus was relieved to see that Shiva seemed to be fond of children, and not mind being leaned on or having his ears tugged. 

After several minutes of negotiation, they decided Shiva, at least for now, could switch between the boys’ rooms. Tonight, he’d sleep in his kennel in Rafe’s room. Officially, the decision had been made by a coin flip, but Magnus had made sure it came up in Rafe’s favor, if for no other reason than because Magnus thought their eldest son might be a little less likely to let Shiva back out of the kennel the moment their backs were turned. 

And when the three of them were finally settled and Magnus and Alec were back in their bedroom, Magnus leaned against the door and let out a heavy sigh.

“Sorry,” Alec said again, but the smile trying to show around the edges of his mouth made Magnus doubt his sincerity. 

Magnus chuckled. “ _ Kids _ .” 

“Yeah, that about sums it up.”

“I’ve said this before, but I’m going to say it again - we aren’t going to survive their teenage years.”

Alec laughed and moved towards the closet to change into something more comfortable to sleep in. “Is it bad that I’m kind of hoping they’ll stop getting along so well? I can deal with them one-on-one, but the second they team up I’m helpless.”

He flopped onto the bed and grinned up at Magnus. “And I’m telling you right now, Izzy is not going to watch him. She’s not going to let an untrained puppy anywhere near her, her closet, or anything else she cares about.”

“We’ll make Jace do it. I’m sure Clary  _ loves _ puppies.”

“If he chews up one of Jace’s jackets she will. She’ll have another ally for whenever she needs petty revenge against him.”

Magnus changed his own clothes, snapped off his makeup, and threw himself down next to Alec. “We’re going to regret this decision in a couple of hours when that thing wakes up.”

“Yeah, probably.”

“You seem very unconcerned.”

Instead of saying anything, Alec just smiled again and leaned over to kiss him. 

“We’ll manage.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm also over on [tumblr](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com), if you want to come talk to me.


End file.
